Midwives’ experiences of witnessing traumatic hospital birth events: A qualitative study
Abstract
Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate in detail the traumatic
birth experiences of midwives in the delivery rooms, and their
attitudes, reactions, and coping strategies. Methods: The design of the
study is descriptive and the purposive sampling method was used. This
approach is ideal for a preliminary exploration of the nature of a
phenomenon. Between October 2018 and January 2019, semi-structured
interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of midwives. The
research was carried out with the participation of 29 midwives, who work
in labour and birth room. They were asked to describe a particular
stressful situation they had experienced during the birth process, their
emotions about the event, and their coping strategies and support
systems. All interviews were digitally recorded, stored in a database,
and transferred to MAX Qualitative Data Analysis 18.1.0 for analysis.
Results: As a result of the content analysis, three main themes emerged:
Psychological impact, defensive practice, and expectations from the
hospital. It was revealed that, after the traumatic birth, midwives
experienced highly emotional exhaustion in the form of sadness,
flashbacks, guilt, fear, and empathy, and that they performed an
increasingly defensive practice. Besides, midwives explicitly stated
that they were not prepared enough for traumatic events and that most
traumatic births were simply ignored in their workplace. Eventually, it
was determined that midwives received support mostly from their
colleagues in case of a traumatic birth. Conclusion(s): Midwives need to
feel valued and be supported by their institutions in coping with
emotional stress. Therefore, performing clinical inspections by
experienced or specialist midwives may serve as a supporting framework
for reducing defensive interventions.